A ramshackle boat shed in Britain’s most expensive seaside town is up for sale for a whopping £750,000 after the owner gets consent to turn it into a luxury home
The small shack is set on the estuary at Salcombe in Devon
AN old boat shed is set to sell for a whopping £1m, after the owner gained permission to turn it into a house.
The small shack is set in Britain’s most expensive seaside town, on the estuary at Salcombe in Devon – a popular holiday home hotspot where the average property costs more than in London.
Waterfront homes in the smart sailing town - that is nicknamed Chelsea-on-Sea - are at a premium and developers look to make the most out of any site they deem to have potential.
Cottles Quay, a single-storey boat store, separate boat shed and private slipway, has been owned for the last 30 years by a woman who used it as a small garden centre.
However, since giving up the business she sought planning permission to convert the property for residential use and adding a second floor extension.
The shed has now been given the consent to become a quaint two bedroom home with two bathrooms, a large open plan living space downstairs and a Juliet balcony that looks out on to the water.
The smaller boat shed at the top of the slipway has also gained permission to be turned into a one bed annexe.
While the property has a guide price of £750,000 it is likely to fetch much more than that because of the amount of interest in it.
However, there is a catch.
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Whoever buys it will have to stump up hundreds of thousands of pounds converting it to plan but, the good news is, once finished the property could be worth around a whopping £1.5m.
The estate agents selling it say they have received a lot of interest from those looking to purchase a second home.
Sarah-Jane Chick, of agents Savills, said: "The owner has had the property for many years. It was her business prior to it coming to the market.
"She has finished with it and has secured planning permission to turn it into residential dwelling with two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a beautiful open plan area with big double doors and a Juliet balcony overlooking the water.
"There are very few development opportunities on the waterfront in Salcombe and when something does come up it generates a lot of interest.
"We recently held an open day and had a constant stream of people.
"The majority of the potential buyers are people who wish to build their own home in Salcombe rather than a developer who will look it sell it on. I think it will sell to a second home owner judging by the people who have viewed it so far."
A condition of the planning consent is that the walls of the main building are installed with reinforced concrete to ensure it is resistant to any flooding in a worse-case scenario that would be a one-in-a-100 year event.
The annexe that will replace the boat shed will also need to have a hydraulic system fitted to actually lift it up above such a tidal event.
The property is being sold through formal tender and bidders have until August 23 to submit their bids.
They will have to prove to the seller that they have done due diligence on the property and are in a position to exchange contracts.